The FourFourTwo Preview: Southampton vs Aston Villa

At the tail-end of last season, both Mauricio Pochettino and Paul Lambert would have given their eye teeth – whatever they are – to be involved in a little comfy mid-table sparring rather than nerve-wrecking relegation death-matches. But expectations shift swiftly, and despite the comparative progress both sides have made this term, recent stutters will be causing minor managerial hand-wringing about whether they’re on a downward spiral.

SOUTHAMPTON FORM

Chelsea 3-1 Southampton (Prem)

Arsenal 2-0 Southampton (Prem)

Southampton 4-1 Hull (Prem)

S'land 2-1 Southampton (LC)

Stoke 1-1 Southampton (Prem)

ASTON VILLA FORM

Aston Villa 0-0 S'land (Prem)

West Brom 2-2 Aston Villa (Prem)

Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff (Prem)

West Ham 0-0 Aston Villa (Prem)

Aston Villa 0-2 Everton (Prem)

Pochettino will be the less clammy-pawed of the two: Southampton performed valiantly in the defeats to Arsenal and Chelsea, and spanked Hull in November, so those suggesting that his October Manager of the Month gong was a curse should think twice.

Southampton have conceded only twice in six St Mary’s fixtures this term, and it is taking collective imagination or individual brilliance to breach their backline at the moment.

They have won only one of their last seven, and 2012/13’s revelation, Christian Benteke, is suffering a dip in form. Lambert’s men will need to recapture some of the occasional verve they showed against Cardiff and West Brom in order to leave the south coast will anything more than nil.

Team news

Southampton stopper Artur Boruc, ever present this season, and having conceded just 10 goals, is out after breaking his hand in the 3-1 defeat by Chelsea on Sunday. With Kelvin Davis also sidelined, 21-year old Argentine Paulo Gazzaniga will don the gloves.

Every striker suffers lean spells in front of goal, and the Belgian battering ram – who thumped home 23 times last season to save Villa from the drop and was wooed by a number of bigger clubs in the summer – now finds some Villa Park grumps with misfiring memories on his back.

“It’s important to build his confidence up, you don’t chastise him in any way – he’s only 22 years of age,” says Lambert. “When you're a on top of your game you just play instinct football. Now maybe you’re thinking about too many things.”

But should Benteke be effectively shackled by the Saints defence, summer signing Libor Kozak may take his place.

LAST FIVE MEETINGS

Villa 0-1 So'ton (Prem, Jan 13)

So'ton 4-1 Villa (Prem, Sep 12)

So'ton 2-3 Villa (Prem, Apr 05)

Villa 2-0 So'ton (Prem, Aug 04)

So'ton 1-1 Villa (Prem, May 04)

The managers

This is the first meeting between the two men; Pochettino was appointed shortly after Nigel Adkins oversaw Saints’ 1-0 away win over Villa back in January. Both gaffers remain predictably upbeat despite recent wobbles.

“It was fairly even-sided,” said Pochettino’s translator after the Chelsea defeat. “There were a number of decisions that did not go our way, but there was no doubt that the players will react positively.”

Lambert admitted that their Sunderland showing was “not a classic” (much in the same way that 2004 Brit-com Sex Lives of the Potato Men was not a classic), but scrabbled around admirably for a couple of positives, including such chestnuts as: “it is another clean sheet” and “we had some lads back from injury”.